Guidance, navigation, and control systems for aircraft include avionics on the aircraft and associated support systems. Guidance of the aircraft during aircraft takeoff, landing, and/or retrieval can be affected by wind and weather conditions, aircraft weight, aircraft payload, mission characteristics, and perhaps other conditions. Further, guidance of the aircraft during takeoff, landing, and/or retrieval at a vehicle, such as a ship or truck, can be complicated by vehicle-related conditions. Current techniques for addressing the complexity of guidance of the aircraft during takeoff, landing, and/or retrieval at a vehicle relate to the use of conservative guidelines at these times. Use of such conservative guidelines can make aircraft takeoff, landing, and/or retrieval unnecessarily difficult, particularly for small aircraft. What is needed are more accurate guidance techniques for guiding (small) aircraft at takeoff, landing, and/or retrieval, particularly when the aircraft take off, land, and/or are retrieved at a vehicle.